Help transfering digital video (from cam corder) to computer

[airplay42]

I'm a newbie at all of this, and I would appreciate any help anyone could give me in getting some digital video I took with my cam corder and convert it into mpegs, or divx, or any format I could share over the internet.

Thanks in advance!
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[Tommy]

Did you check the HOW TO section under capture? If not then you should. If you already did and still don't understand. What kind of computer do you have and what programs are you using. Do you expect to transfer video with a firewire? and if so did it (the firewire card) come with any programs? Or do you need to know what programs to use.

[airplay42]

Tommy
Thanks for the quick reply! I looked through that section, but I'm not really sure what it's called (what I'm trying to do here). I haven't bought any software for this. Is that what I need to do in order to convert it? My camera has a usb cable. I'm running XP on my lap top 1ghz with 512 ram. If you can point me in the right direction I sure would appreciate it!

Thanks again!
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[resnullius]

What camera do you have? I'm asking this because most cams who have a usb also have a firewire connection. In these cases the usb is for pictures and sometimes small videos taken on a multimedia card, not the video itself. You will need a software to upload the video to your computer, i'd say premiere but i don't think it supports capturing through usb.

[airplay42]

I don't have my camera with me right now (I'm on the road), but I just bought it 2 weeks ago. It's a brand new JVC, so if they typically come with a fire wire port.......I'd assume it has one.

So I need to buy a capture card or something? Along with some software?

Thanks!
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[resnullius]

if it does i i'm pretty sure it does have a firewire port, you'll have to buy a firewire card. I'd recomend ati's dv wonder, it's not expensive, it comes with ulead video studio which is a good comsumer grade video editor. And it has the 6to4pin connector which is whats used by most minidv cameras

[Tommy]

Yes your camcorder probably has a firewire port however make sure. Since your using a laptop check to see if it also has a firewire port (also called an IEEE 1394). If it doesn't then you have to get one. I have a pinnicle card but I don't know if they would make a version to fit your laptop as I do not know what you have on it.

One thing to consider before you go out and spend money. Digital video (DV) takes up a lot of space, 18 minutes is about 4gb. Since your using windows xp I don't think you really have to worry about the 4gb file size limit as you could just convert to ntfs. however most lap top Hard drives are on the smaller side and depending on what you have on it there might not be enough room. But again thats for you to decide.

If you want to take a look at the how to's its under capture. i.e. capturing DV using......something. But generally once you have all of the parts, firewire card and program its just a matter of pluging in your camcorder to the computer and knowing how to use the program. Very simple.